


Weight in Gold

by authors_bane



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Pirates of the Caribbean
Genre: Bloody Pirates, F/M, also one of the best rides at disneyland, here there be monsters, i don't think i'll ever be over these movies, parley, still not over the fact that barbossa's first name is hector, still one of the best movie scores ever, try wearing a corset, will nice hat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-07 03:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authors_bane/pseuds/authors_bane
Summary: Rowena grew up with William Turner and his mother. She didn't belong to them, not by blood, but she was family.When her mother died, she and Will went to look for his father. Somehow, they wound up in Port Royal, personal friends of the governor's daughter, Elizabeth Swann.Working as a maid in the Swann household, Rowena learned a lot about being a lady, and how to not be one. When pirates roll into town looking for a medallion of gold and the blood of a Turner, Rowena finds herself aboard a pirate ship and cast into a sea of scallywags, swashbucklers, and a code that no one seems to follow.She follows her best friend and her brother as they traverse the seas and deal with ghost stories beyond comprehension.She expected sword fights and undead creatures and sea monsters, but falling in love with a pirate? That was not something she intended on doing.{Black Pearl and onwards. I don't own Pirates, I just really enjoy it}





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter I: Damn the French

When Rowena heard that her employer-slash-best friend had fallen into the ocean after an all too expected proposal from Commodore Norrington, was then saved by a pirate and then threatened by said pirate, she knew that it was a tea-in-bed kind of night. She had the tea already brewed and hot when Elizabeth Swann came trudging into her room, still soaking wet.  
"Look what the cat dragged in," Rowena teased with a smile, walking over to her friend to help her undress. "I've got some tea prepared, a fire ready, the bed warmer is already heated, and, lucky for you, your warmest nightgown has already been cleaned."  
Elizabeth smiled, her eyelids heavy. Rowena handed Elizabeth her dry clothes as she disposed of the wet ones in the laundry bin. As Elizabeth crawled into her bed, a book in hand, Rowena put the copper bed warmer by her feet.  
"You've had quite the exciting day, haven't you Elizabeth," Rowena said, sitting on the other side of the bed. Elizabeth sighed, opening her book.  
"Norrington's proposal didn't come exactly as a surprise," she said, looking at the words but not truly reading them. Her hand was on a medallion that always hung about her neck. Rowena never had the guts to ask what it was.  
"I meant you falling 2oo feet to your near death then getting threatened by a pirate, but I guess you could say an unexpected proposal is just as bad." Elizabeth scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You know, marrying Norrington isn't a bad idea, Lizzy."  
"I know, I know, Rowena, but-"  
"But," Elizabeth's loud mouth friend interjected, "you've got your eye on a certain, strapping blacksmith."  
"Shut up!" Elizabeth hissed, hitting her friend with one of her pillows.  
"You're right, it's not my place to tell you that my brother would make a great husband," Rowena sighed, taking hold of the pillow and snuggling it into her chest.  
"And what about you, Ro? Where's your handsome lad?" Elizabeth mocked, shutting her book and giving her friend one of her best smiles. Rowena scoffed and rolled her eyes.  
"I'm not in the market for one. I'm fine on my own, thank you very much," she retorted, scrunching up her nose.  
"You'll bite your tongue one of these days, Rowena Turner, you really will," Elizabeth told her, returning to her book.  
"Well, Ms. Swann, I should take out your wet clothes and get into my own bed. Drink your tea." Rowena rolled out of the enormous bed and did just as she had said she would. After putting the wet clothes outside to dry, she returned inside the house. She had just entered her small room adjacent to Elizabeth's when she heard cannon fire and screams from outside her room. She ran to the window and saw a large, black ship floating out in the water, shooting canon after canon at the city of Port Royal. Even at the top of the hill she could hear the screams. Looking down she saw men running up to the house. Fear struck her heart. Only one thought ran through her head: protect Elizabeth.  
She burst through the door that connected her room to Elizabeth's to see that her friend had left the room to tell the butler not to open the door. Rowena was by her side when the door was opened.  
"Hello chum," said the pirate at the door and shot the butler point blank in the chest. Elizabeth screamed as Rowena gasped, horrified at the sight of the blood spattering on the carpet. All she could think of was how hard it would be to clean. She and Elizabeth ran back to her room and locked the door. Inside was Estrella, one of Elizabeth's other maids.  
"Miss Swann, they've come to kidnap you," Estrella whispered, tears in her eyes, as Rowena locked the door.  
"What?" Elizabeth breathed.  
"You're the governor's daughter."  
Elizabeth took a second to process this.  
"They haven't seen you," she told Estrella, "Hide, and the first chance you get, run to the fort."  
Estrella nodded and hid behind the changing curtain. Rowena took hold of one of the fire pokers, unsure of what she might do with it. Elizabeth grabbed the bed warmer as the door burst opened. She swung it with all of her night and smacked one of the two pirate's in the face with it. Estrella screamed and ran out the door as the second pirate blocked Elizabeth's swing by grabbed the warmer by the pole.  
"Gotcha!" He exclaimed, but neither Elizabeth nor Rowena was having any of his mockeries. As Rowena jabbed him in the side with the hot poker, Elizabeth pulled the finger latch that opened the bed warmer, and hot coals came pouring down on the pirate's head. Rowena took Elizabeth's hand and they ran down the stairs, the first pirate right behind them. They screamed in unison as the other pirate jumped from the very top of the staircase to the bottom. His long legs should have broken, or she should have at least fallen over, but he stood steady.  
A cannonball burst through the wall and hit one of the many other pirates looting Elizabeth's treasures and, as they were distracted, Elizabeth and Rowena ran to a room across the lobby. Before the any of the pirates could catch them, a falling chandelier got in their way.  
Rowena locked the door as Elizabeth ran to grab the two swords mounted on the wall above a fireplace.  
"We know you're 'ere, Poppet," one of the pirates said as Elizabeth tried to shake the swords free.  
"They're not coming loose," she whispered in panic. Rowena put her hand on her friend's back and pointed to the closet. The two friends ran to the closet and closed themselves in, just as the door burst down.  
"Poppet. We know you're in here," the first, rounder pirate said, trying to make his voice smooth and happy. Both girls breathed deeply, trying to hide their fear. Rowena clung to Elizabeth's hand, sweat beading down her forehead.  
"Come out and we promise we won't hurt you." There was a brief pause. "We will find you, Poppet. You've got something of ours, and it calls to us." Rowena watched Elizabeth's other hand go to the medallion on her neck. Rowena sent her a quizzical look, but Elizabeth wasn't paying attention. She knew that medallion, now that she got a good look at it. It was her brother's. "The gold calls to us."  
Elizabeth and Rowena examined the face of the medallion with the light shining through the crack in the door, but it was suddenly covered in darkness. Both girls looked up and gasped at the sight of the pirate's face.  
"'Ello, Poppet." He threw the door open, both pirates raising their swords to strike. Elizabeth tucked the medallion back into her dress instantly.  
"Parley!" Both Elizabeth and Rowena yelled simultaneously.  
"Wot?" The taller pirate asked.  
"Parley. We invoke the right of Parley," Rowena repeated.  
"According to the code of the brethren set down by pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take us to your captain," Elizabeth added in a flurry.  
"I know the code," growled the short one.  
"If an adversary demands parley you can do them no harm until the parley is complete," Elizabeth continued as if reciting directly from the code itself.  
"To blazes with the code!" The tall one yelled, raising his sword again.  
"They want to be taken to the captain," seethed the short one to the tall one, "And they'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code."  
He wore a terribly awful grin that made Rowena sick to her stomach, but she allowed the short one to drag Elizabeth from the closet. She tensed as the taller one grabbed her wrist roughly and dragged her from her hiding place.  
Grinding her teeth as they went, Rowena resisted the urge to fight back. Now surrounded by more pirates, the two were pushed through the city. Rowena looked on in horror at the chaos the pirates ensued on her home.  
Buildings were burning. Men and women lay dead in the street. Children screamed as people cried over their lost loved ones. She could smell the smoke from the fire and she could almost taste the metallic scent of the blood. Her heart pounded in her chest as the grip of the pirates tightened on her wrists. She needed to keep moving. If she stopped and resisted, she didn't know what they'd do to Elizabeth.  
As they were marched through town, she saw William, her brother. He had obviously been fighting, she didn't expect any different. When he noticed them, fear filled his eyes.  
"Elizabeth," his lips read. Rowena's heart stopped.  
"Will," the name barely made it past Elizabeth's lips. Will's eyes shifted over towards Rowena. She knit her eyebrows together and nodded her head, promising to look after her. Will took a step forward, but a pirate walked up behind him and hit him over the head with the butt of his sword.  
"Will!" Rowena cried out. She pulled against the pirates as Will fell, unconscious, to the ground, but they wouldn't let her go.  
Elizabeth and Rowena were thrown mercilessly into a small boat and rowed towards the ship.  
"What's your plan?" Rowena whispered to Elizabeth as they went.  
"A trade," she whispered back. Rowena breathed heavily, her dark eyes reflecting the flames that ate her city. Tears filled her eyes, thinking about all those who had died. She couldn't get her mind off of Will, unsure whether he was alive or not.  
The two girls were taken aboard the blackened ship. As she stepped on board, Rowena felt something strangely familiar, yet so unsettlingly unfamiliar, pass through her body. She looked around the ship, at its black hull and its ragged crew. She knew this ship.  
Memories of a terrible day passed through her mind. Thoughts of a ship with black sails and fire that burned so hot, she sometimes still felt it in her nightmares. The recollection of watching her brother drift away on a piece of wood as she lay, near death, on a still-burning ship caused a piercing pain to shoot through her head. She tried so very hard to forget her younger days, that day specifically.  
"I didn't know we was takin' on captives," a large, black pirate sneered at the others who had boarded.  
"They've invoked the right of parley with Captain Barbossa," the short pirate, whose name Rowena discovered was Pintel, said, almost timidly. Elizabeth stepped forward.  
"I am here to negotiate-" the black man backhanded her across the face so hard, Rowena was unsure how Elizabeth was still standing. Rowena lunged forward, ready to fight the man with everything she had, but the other pirates held her back, their hands roaming and touching places she wished they wouldn't.  
A hand reached out and grabbed the black pirate's wrist.  
"And ye not lay a hand on those under the protection of parley, Bo'sun," the man to whom the hand belonged said, his accent stereotypically pirate-y.  
"Aye, sir," Bo'sun said through his teeth.  
"My apologies, Miss," the pirate, whom Rowena could only assume was Captain Barbossa by the way all the pirates immediately stopped their crowing and gawking.  
"Captain Barbossa," Elizabeth started, "I am here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal."  
Barbossa laughed, and the other pirates joined in uneasily.  
"There are a lot of long words in there, Miss," Barbossa told her, "we are naught humble pirates. What is it that you want?"  
Rowena pulled herself away from the pirates holding her and stood beside Elizabeth.  
"I want you to leave and never come back," Elizabeth told him, her voice low and demanding. Rowena loved this side of Elizabeth. Even if they were standing amidst a hoard of pirates who looked like they would eat the girls alive, Rowena couldn't help but smile.  
"I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request," Barbossa mocked her. When she didn't respond immediately, he leaned forward slightly. "Means 'no'."  
Elizabeth stepped back, pulling the medallion over her head.  
"Very well." Her voice had lost all demanding tones and simply sounded innocent. "I'll drop it." She dangled the medallion in over the side of the ship by the chain. Rowena watched her with a coy smile on her face. She raised an eyebrow at the other pirates, all of whom were watching the medallion closely.  
"Me holds are bursting with swag." Rowena was appalled by the man's grammar and tried not to correct him. Now was simply not the time. "That bit o' shine matters to us? Why?"  
"It's what you've been searching for," Rowena interjected, crossing her arms. "I recognize this ship. You almost killed me with it 8 years ago."  
"And I saw it on the crossing to England," Elizabeth added.  
"Did ya, now?" Barbossa had a truly ugly grin on his face, and his eyes lit up.  
"Fine." Elizabeth set her jaw. "Well, if it is worthless then there's no point in me keeping it." She let go of the chain just enough so that when the pirates lunged towards it, she still had hold of it. A knowing smile passed her face. Rowena shook her head once in shock, a smile on her face as well. She never knew just how manipulative her friend was.  
"Ah." Barbossa chuckled. "Either you lasses have names?"  
"Elizabeth-" she paused, remembering what Estrella had said in her room. "Turner."  
Rowena's smile faded and her stomach dropped. Everything inside of her screamed 'bad idea'. There was nothing she could do now.  
"I'm a maid in the governor's household," she quickly added, giving a quick curtsey.  
"Miss Turner?" Barbossa repeated. Rowena's stomach churned as everyone aboard the boat murmured. She even heard Pintel whisper to his friend "Bootstrap". She didn't know what it meant, but she didn't like it.  
"And how does a maid come to own a trinket such as that? A family heirloom, perhaps?" Barbossa inquired. The question was too specific for Rowena's liking. She scowled at him, shifting herself between him and Elizabeth.  
"I didn't steal it, if that's what you mean," Elizabeth said, pulling the medallion back over her neck.  
"And you, missy?" Barbossa turned to Rowena. "Are you, perhaps, her sister?"  
"No," Rowena snapped, "not by blood."  
"Have you a name?"  
"It's none of your dam-" Elizabeth jabbed her friend in the side and coughed, glancing around at the pirates. Rowena faked a smile. "Pardon me, Captain. Rowena is my name."  
"Rowena and Elizabeth." He looked at the two girls with a fire in his eyes that Rowena certainly didn't like one bit. "Very well, hand it over and we'll put your town to our rudder and ne'er return."  
Elizabeth put the medallion in his hand. As she leaned over, Rowena whispered "Bad idea," through a smile.  
"Our bargain?" Elizabeth demanded as Barbossa turned away.  
Bo'sun started shouting orders to the men as Elizabeth and Rowena followed after Barbossa.  
"Wait! You have to take us to shore!" Rowena said to him.  
"According to the Code of the Order of the Brethren-" Elizabeth started to add when Barbossa whirled around, a crazed look on his face.  
"First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl," Barbossa spewed. He waved a hand at two of the pirates to their left and walked away. Rowena's throat tightened and she looked over at Elizabeth. Fear glistened in Elizabeth's eyes. She took Rowena's hand and squeezed it.  
"Don't worry, Lizzy," Rowena said, trying to keep her voice calm as the ship began to move. "We'll be alright."  
It was clear that Elizabeth didn't entirely believe her.


	2. Chapter II: No God Aboard

Chapter II: No God Aboard

Rowena and Elizabeth sat in the far corner of the room they had been locked in. Rowena held Elizabeth's trembling hands in hers.

"We'll be alright," Rowena said again, trying to convince herself more than anything. "We can outsmart these dumb pirates."

Elizabeth nodded her head, breathing slowly.

"We'll outsmart them," she repeated. Rowena smiled.

"Aye, that we will."

They sat, not moving and stomachs growling until the door opened. They both stood quickly, ready for anything. The pirate, Pintel, walked over to Elizabeth, completely ignoring the other girl. He held a dress in his hands.

"You'll be dinin' with the captain," he said to Elizabeth, "and he requests you wear this."

The held the dress out to Elizabeth, who set her jaw angrily.

"Well, you may tell the captain that I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request," she snapped back. Rowena sighed. He knew she would say that.

"He said you'd say that. He also said if that be the case, you'll be dinin' with the crew...and you'll be naked." Elizabeth glared and snatched the dress from his hands. "Fine."

She stood and waited for the two pirates to leave, but they just stood and grinned. Elizabeth growled. She turned around. Rowena stepped between her friend and the pirates and helped her undo the ties in the back of her nightgown. Once the gown had come off, the two quickly put the beautiful, crimson dress over Elizabeth to hide her undergarments from the wandering eyes of the two pirates. After the dress had been put on properly, Elizabeth and Rowena turned back to the pirates.

"We're ready," Elizabeth said, her chin high and her voice unwavering.

"Oh, your pretty little friend isn't dining with the captain," Pintel said, a cruel smile on his face. "She'll be eating with us."

Rowena gave him a sweet smile.

"I'd rather starve."

Pintel glared at her and slapped her across the face. Rowena cried out in pain, grabbing her face with her hand. She turned back to the pirates, eyes narrowed into deadly slits. She lunged at Pintel, her sharp fingernails out and ready to maim. Elizabeth grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back before she did anything she would regret.

"I'll go eat with your captain," Elizabeth told them, holding Rowena behind her. Rowena breathed heavily, seething with anger, her cheek burning bright red.

She let go of Rowena and walked behind the pirates.

"If you hurt her, I swear to God-"

Pintel gave Rowena another grin as his tall friend lead Elizabeth away.

"You'll swear to none. There ain't no God aboard this ship."

The door slammed shut and Rowena was left alone in the dark room with nothing to accompany her except the hungry growl of her stomach.

She hadn't realized that she'd fallen asleep until she awoke to the sound of screaming. Her eyes snapped open. She was on the floor, which was slightly disorientating, and had almost completely forgotten that she was aboard a pirate ship, a long way from home. She stood up, realizing that the screams were a female's coming from outside the cabin in which she was currently locked.

"Elizabeth," she breathed. She ran forward towards the door of the cabin. She tried to open it, even if she already knew it was locked. She pounded on the door, begging to be let out, begging for them not to hurt her friend.

"Stay away from her!" She screamed through the wood.

Finally, the door was unlocked and thrown open. Rowena stumbled backward. Elizabeth was thrown into the room, small screams still coming from her mouth. Rowena crawled over to her friend. She looked out the door and realized why Elizabeth was screaming. Where there should have been pirates made of flesh, stood pirates without skin and only bone. A scream caught in her throat as the door was slammed shut once again, the haunting sound of the pirates' laughter still ringing in her ears.

She put her arms around Elizabeth as she trembled.

"What happened, Lizzy?" She asked, her voice quiet. Elizabeth breathed deeply, trying to regain her own voice.

"They are cursed," she whispered. "They are undead. Barbossa said he needed my blood to undo the curse."

Rowena swallowed, scowling.

"We'll get away. We'll flee before they can hurt you," Rowena said quickly, "We'll-"

"Ro, stop," Elizabeth grabbed her friend's hands. "There's no escaping them."

"I won't let them hurt you," Rowena told Elizabeth firmly. "I can't let them hurt you."

Elizabeth smiled. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to Rowena's. The women sat in silence, trying to drown out the sounds of everything that was outside the dark cabin.

***

They felt the ship stop before anyone came in to take them anywhere. Rowena wrapped her arms around Elizabeth.

"I won't let them hurt you," she said again. Tears pricked her eyes. Her throat swelled and her nose burned as she thought of living without her best friend. She couldn't imagine what she would do if they killed Elizabeth. It would kill her brother, he would never be the same. She would lose the only two people in her life and she couldn't bear that.

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid," Elizabeth said. Rowena held on tighter. Elizabeth pushed Rowena away, taking Rowena's face in her hands. They both had tears in their eyes. "If they kill me or even try to, promise me you won't get yourself killed as well."

Rowena couldn't speak due to the swelling of her throat. She looked away from Elizabeth's eyes, unable to hold the gaze.

"Promise me." Elizabeth's voice was firm and demanding and her grip was tight, so Rowena could do nothing until she responded in a way that Elizabeth liked.

"I promise," Rowena said, feeling like a 12-year-old again, forced to promise the woman she saw as a mother that she would protect Will against anything. Here she was, promising not to defend her friend even if it meant her life.

She already knew she would not be able to keep that promise. She spent 8 years watching out for and protecting Elizabeth from anything.

The door burst open and four pirates ran in, grabbing hold of the two friends and pulling them apart.

"No, Elizabeth!" Rowena cried, struggling against the pirates. She pulled one of her arms free and punched one in the nose.

"Ro, stop!" Elizabeth begged her, but the adrenaline was already coursing through her veins. She took the sword from the pirate still holding her and drove the sword through his chest. The sword cut through him and stuck deep into the wood of the ship.

"Rowena!"

Rowena gagged, letting go of the sword and back away in fear. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to keep the bile that rose in her throat from coming out of her mouth. The pirate whom she punched cracked his jaw and grinned at her. The one with a sword in his chest pulled it out and sheathed it. There wasn't even blood on the sword. With her blood cold as ice, Rowena didn't even try to protest as they grabbed her again and lead her after Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth and Rowena held hands under their skirts as the pirates rowed them across the water into the caves of the island, Isle de Muerta. The cold air of the night bit Rowena's skin through her nightgown. Elizabeth was still wearing the crimson dress that had been given to her the day before. Rowena was still in the nightgown she was wearing when the pirates first attacked. She shivered slightly. 

"Need a jacket, Poppet?" Pintel asked, a brown-toothed grin on his face. She looked at him, a sharp glare in her eyes. He laughed, a laugh which rippled through the others in the boat and the boat beside them. Elizabeth squeezed her hand. 

"La Isla de Muerta," Barbossa drawled, looking at the black mass of rock before them. Rowena's heart dropped. 

"Death Island," Rowena breathed. "Great." 

Before they got to the shore inside the cave, Rowena saw a refraction of light from inside the water. She leaned over the edge of the boat and saw that the ground beneath the water was covered with gold and jewels. Her heart pounded in her chest. She had seen jewels in the necklaces that Elizabeth owned and gold in all the plates that the Governor kept but never ate from, but she had never seen anything like this. Gold coins as far as the eye could see. Rubies the size of her hand, emeralds the size and color of her eyes. She couldn't help the smile on her face. 

"You like the look of gold, girl?" Barbossa asked, looking down at Rowena. "Maybe you should think about changing professions." 

The excitement from the gold curdled in her stomach. She felt the urge to vomit again. She leaned back into the boat, not looking over to Barbossa, trying to ignore the look that Elizabeth was giving her. The boat jostled as it hit the shore. The other boats hit the shore just after. Rowena rushed out of the boat as quickly as she could, ignoring the mocking hand of Barbossa as he offered to help her out. Her legs were shaking as she stood on the rocky shore. She held a hand out to Elizabeth to help her out of the boat. Elizabeth's hands were still warm. 

As soon as she was on shore, Barbossa grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. 

"Don't touch her," Rowena growled, stepping forward. 

"Someone needs to put you on a leash," Barbossa said, looking at her through squinted eyes. Bo'sun grabbed Rowena by the arms and pushed her forward, ahead of Elizabeth and Barbossa. There were piles of all kinds of treasures. Crowns, golden candlesticks, statues, bowls, chests, vases, goblets, stone studded weapons, clothes, shoes, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of other types of treasure lay about the cave. Some of it looked as if it had just been tossed inside offhandedly, while other things were placed carefully. Rowena tried to pretend she didn't feel a pull at her lips when she saw all that treasure. It sparkled and glittered. She saw a small goblet full of large, studded rings and she could just see herself wearing those rings. She shook the image from her mind and continued walking forward. 

When they entered the main cavern, Rowena couldn't help the gasp that came out of her mouth. The room was full of those very same things that the other rooms had, but ten times more and ten times larger. Streams of water wove throughout the cavern. In the middle of the cavern, sitting atop the largest pile of gold, illuminated by the moonlight that shone through a hole in the roof, was a golden chest. Inside the golden chest were hundreds of golden medallions that looked exactly like the very same medallion Will's father had sent him 8 years ago, the very same medallion that Elizabeth wore about her neck. 

Rowena took slow, stumbling steps forward. She looked back at Elizabeth, who had gone extremely pale. 

This was not good.

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy :)


End file.
